April 14, 2018

Kurt Russell - Disney 4 Movie Collection

Disney packs four of their movies in a set with a basic theme. The other themes I got were Dogs, Classics, Don Knotts and Herbie. Each of the movies comes on it's own DVD and they're $7.49 a set on Amazon. The DVDs are pretty no frills, subtitles are the only extra.

In Kurt Russell the first 3 films are set in the same college campus with Russell and his co-stars playing the same characters. Joe Flynn plays the Dean, Cesar Romero plays the baddie, and William Schallert plays the professor in two, William Windom plays the professor in the third film. Kurt plays a student in William's class, he's usually at the center of the discovery that can be used the gain some money for the school. The school is in dire need of some cash when each movie opens. The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit is really a Dean Jones film with Kurt playing a small role.

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes 1969 Written by Joseph L McEveety and directed by Robert Butler. Joseph wrote all three of the Kurt Russell Disney College pictures as well as several other Disney films. He also served as an assistant director earlier in his career. Pretty much all at Disney. Robert directed a lot of popular TV shows starting in 1959. I know I have seen some of his work and will see more as I get back to those old programs. In 1969 he directed two films, both for Disney. He continued to work for them who a number of years.

Kurt gets shocked when he touches the water soaked computer. He wakes up the next day all smart and stuff. He can speed read and retain all knowledge he glances at. The computer was donated to the school by Cesar Romero and it contains evidence of his underground gambling activity. Kurt lets slip some old info from Cesar's old records. Cesar wants to shut him up and the chase is on.

Now You See Him Now You Don't 1972 Story by Robert L King, screenplay by Joseph L McEveety, directed by Robert Butler.

Kurt and pals accidentally invent an invisible spray. The dean wants to use it to win a huge grant for the school. Cesar, fresh out of jail, finds out. He can't wait to rush back into crime. He steals the spray and uses it to rob a bank. They chase him until the movie ends. There's other silly stuff in between. Sometimes the jokes are OK but other times the jokes aren't too funny. There's plenty of slapstick and people get covered with stuff quite often.

The Strongest Man In The World 1975 Screenplay by Joseph L McEveety and Herman Groves, direction by Vincent McEveety.

Kurt and his class mates invent a strength formula and the dean uses it to make money for the continuously cash strapped school. There are plenty of strength related gags and jokes. Some are fun and others aren't quite so good. All these movies rate about a 6 and that's where I put them. They really might not be that good but they have nice characters in the kids and the professor and there's a good nature about them.

The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit 1968 Eric Hatch wrote The Year Of The Horse, the book the movie is based on, Louis Pelletier wrote the screenplay and Norman Tokar directed. Eric wrote the novel, 1101 Park Avenue, that My Man Godfrey was based on. Eric wrote the screenplay to Topper in 1937. Louis wrote a fair bit of TV and a few movies. Norman directed 93 episodes of Leave It To Beaver and smaller numbers of many other programs. He directed a good number of the live action Disney films.

Dean Jones is an advertising guy who pitches a campaign for a headache remedy. The idea is they have a horse that's named after the product, Aspercell, and when it wins prizes it advertises the product. It's kind of a lame idea and there's way too much show jumping. It's mostly a father and daughter kind of movie. There's a bit of a romance between Dean and his daughter's trainer. Kurt is the student that helps them out a bit. He's not in the movie that much. Not as much fun as the other ones but mostly because I didn't care that much for the show jumping.

All in all a nice collection that I know I will want to re-watch at some point. As I get older and more senile I'll be glad to have these simple stories and the noise will keep me awake to finish my cocoa.